"Jugend Forscht" Training Trip for Winners of the State Advisor Awards - Steinmühle

“Jugend Forscht” Training Trip for Winners of the State Advisor Awards

Contests & Awards, News, STEM, Talent Development

Under the motto “Jugend Forscht Offers More,” the award-winning mentors from the individual federal states gathered for an interesting professional development trip from November 15 to 17, 2019.
Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf, a teacher at Steinmühlen School, was awarded the Mentor Prize for Hesse at the state-level “Jugend forscht” competition in Kassel. A varied program awaited her in Paderborn, to which the “Jugend forscht” ambassadors from the federal states were also invited. In addition to exciting program activities, there was also ample time and opportunity for collegial exchange in a relaxed atmosphere.
It was particularly interesting to see how differently individual schools organize their participation in the “Jugend forscht” competition, depending in part on the specific conditions and opportunities in each federal state.
The new contacts made, as well as the many stimulating conversations and ideas, will certainly be valuable for the further development of the “Jugend Forscht” projects at Steinmühle.

(Photo: Award-winning mentors with the ambassadors from the federal states and the organizers “on the moon” at the Heinz Nixdorf Museum)

28. November 2019

Boys’ Basketball World Cup II: Team Wins JtfO District Championship in a Highly Dramatic Final

Contests & Awards, News, Sports & Health

The Steinmühlen team, coached for the first time by a 12th-grade student (Jonas Neirich), took the field with eight boys from grades 9–11. Hannes Bergmann, Pablo Mediavilla, Luka Hartmann, Anton Scheider, Fabian Seidel, Eren Pektas, Leo Tschentke, and Xaver Teres Loytved fought together for the win.

After the Elisabethschule withdrew its team at the last minute, Steinmühle only had to face the Martin-Luther-Schule (MLS) and the Philippinum.

In their first game against the MLS, the Steinmühlen team quickly took the lead and extended it to 10 points in the first half. Although the team had never played together in this lineup before, they dominated the second half as well and ultimately won the game by a wide margin, 38–18.

It was now clear that the second game against Philippinum would be the championship game for the district title. Given their individual strength, the Steinmühlen team went into the match as slight favorites. In the first half, however, they failed to live up to that role. On the one hand, the opponent was probably slightly underestimated; on the other hand, it became apparent that the team wasn’t yet playing as a unit and therefore hadn’t developed any automatic plays. As a result, Steinmühle trailed 7–20 at the end of the first half, seemingly in a hopeless position.

Jonas Neirich motivated at the decisive moment

Now Coach Jonas Neirich was especially called upon. With a motivational speech, he managed to lift the players’ spirits. Thanks to tactical adjustments, the players took a completely different approach to the game in the second half. They slowly closed the gap, point by point. With every basket scored, their shooting accuracy returned, allowing Anton Schneider to sink three crucial three-pointers. In the final minute, the team even managed to take a 22–21 lead.

In the remaining seconds, however, the game came to a dramatic climax. With 10 seconds left, Philippinum took a 23–22 lead. That left only a few seconds to turn the game around. In the very last play, Hannes Bergmann took a chance, drove to the basket, and scored the much-celebrated 24–23 victory. With this win, the players secured their spot in the regional finals in December—a result they were certainly happy about, but one they certainly deserved.

14. November 2019

A Classic Win-Win Situation: Steinmühle and Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb Team Up

Collaborations & Partnerships, News, Sports & Health

The partnership has been in place for some time, and now the collaboration between Steinmühle and Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb has been formalized. The school and boarding school on one side, and Marburg’s largest sports club on the other, signed an agreement to that effect.

It had recently become clear that something was in the works. A large new sign at the Blau-Gelb sports field on Marburg’s Zwetschenweg highlights the partnership between Steinmühle and Blau-Gelb. “It hasn’t been up for very long,” Egon Vaupel revealed. “But we managed to get it ready in time for the press event.”

When you realize that Egon Vaupel is not only the chairman of the Steinmühle School Association but also of the Blau-Gelb soccer division, a lot of things become clearer. It explains how the approximately 1,350 club members and the 745 Steinmühle students could have overlapped. The fact that Blau-Gelb chairman Dr. Anton Schmölz is also the legal advisor to the Steinmühle School Association ties everything together. Both sides recognized areas in need of improvement that could be resolved together: more space for sports, more rooms for training, and greater variety in the sports programs offered.

A Shared Worldview

The existing common ground of openness to the world, mutual respect, and tolerance made it relatively easy to decide to collaborate, explained Principal Bernd Holly. He, Dirk Konnertz, executive director of the school association; Michael Neirich, head of school sports; and Georg Ritter, executive director of the boarding school, are pleased with the very concrete benefits and expanded offerings that come with the partnership:

The Blau-Gelb Sports Club allows Steinmühle to use its sports field on Zwetschenweg outside of its own game and practice times to prepare for school competitions.
The sports club allows Steinmühle students to participate, without red tape, in training sessions and, where applicable, games for all age groups in all sports offered.
Plans for new sports facilities are to be developed jointly. With regard to funding issues, the parties intend to present a united front to potential funding sources.

Sharing Resources

In return, Steinmühle makes its sports facilities available to the BG youth soccer players during set training times, as well as its training rooms for continuing education courses for youth coaches. The beach volleyball and basketball courts may also be used. Steinmühle promotes Blau-Gelb’s summer camps, and in return, Steinmühle students can attend the camps. Joint sports festivals are also to be held on the Steinmühle grounds. Steinmühle and the sports club unanimously agreed that they want to arrange practice games between the school teams and Blau-Gelb’s youth teams in the near future. At the signing of the agreement, all parties agreed that this cooperation marks the beginning of a successful partnership.

To formally launch the cooperation agreement, the following individuals met: Egon Vaupel (Chairman of the Steinmühle Marburg School Association), Michael Neirich (School Sports Director), Bernd Holly (Principal of Steinmühle), Dr. Anton Schmölz (Chairman of Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb Marburg), Georg Ritter (Managing Director of the Steinmühle Boarding School), Dirk Konnertz (Managing Director of the Steinmühle Marburg School Association), Thomas Koch (Youth Director of Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb Marburg), and Daniel Goy (Head of the Women’s Soccer Department at Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb Marburg). Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb Marburg is the largest soccer club in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district.

Signing of the cooperation agreement between SF/BG Marburg and Steinmühle. Photo: Thorsten Richter (thr)

4. November 2019